Digital Mobile Technologies to study Tuberculosis: A Multi-disciplinary Program

研究结核病的数字移动技术：一个多学科项目

• 批准号: 10676557
• 负责人: Christopher C. Whalen
• 金额: $ 23.78万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-03-27 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10676557
• 关键词: Adherence; Africa; Africa South of the Sahara; Artificial Intelligence; Cause of Death; Cellular Phone; Clinical; Complex; Data; Databases; Dedications; Discipline; Disease; Disease Management; Enrollment; Ensure; Epidemiology; Geography; Goals; Health; Health Technology; Infection; Machine Learning; Measures; Metadata; Methods; Mind; Modernization; Outcome; Persons; Research; Research Design; Research Personnel; Research Project Grants; Science; Scientist; Short-Term Course; Societies; Southeastern Asia; Students; Technology; Training; Treatment Protocols; Tuberculosis; Uganda; Universities; World Health Organization; computer science; digital; digital health; digital technology; effective therapy; low and middle-income countries; mobile computing; multidisciplinary; novel; pre-doctoral; prevent; programs; skills; symposium; transmission process

Project Summary According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the global burden of tuberculosis peaked in 2000 and has since declined by 2.0% per year. Although this progress is encouraging, tuberculosis remains a leading cause of death, as over 1.4 million people die per year of the disease. Moreover, low- and middle-income countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia bear a disproportionately high burden of tuberculosis compared to other parts of the world. The overarching goal of this proposal is simple: to reduce the burden of tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa, in particular Uganda. To reach this goal, we believe that we need new metrics for tuberculosis burden that lead to actionable steps to reduce transmission or prevent progression of infection to disease. We also need better ways to manage the disease by ensuring proper adherence to effective treatment regimens to achieve desired clinical outcomes. The current proposal is built upon the premise that digital mobile technologies, that were not developed with health purposes in mind, may be leveraged in imaginative and novel ways to provide useful information about tuberculosis transmission, infection, and disease. Indeed, over the past decade, we have developed a portfolio of research projects using cellular telephone metadata, GPS-enabled watches, and smartphone video apps to study central questions about tuberculosis persistence in Kampala and Uganda more broadly. These projects have generated large, complex and interconnected databases that require a high level of quantitative skills and sophistication to manage and analyze. Yet, the expertise to design studies and analyze these types of data currently lies in a small group of researchers from diverse disciplines, such as epidemiology, geography, network science, computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence, among others. To realize the full potential of digital mobile technologies in measuring useful health information, we propose to build a critical mass of researchers with expertise across two or more disciplines who are dedicated to applying new methods to study the longstanding and stubborn questions about the persistence of tuberculosis in Africa. To create this critical mass of researchers in Uganda, we propose the following Specific Aims: 1. To train two Ugandan pre-doctoral trainees at the University of Georgia (UGA) in epidemiology, one with a special focus on geography of tuberculosis and the other with focus on machine learning and artificial intelligence to enhance digital adherence technology; 2. To train two to three master’s students per year enrolled at Makerere University by supporting their master’s thesis research in topics related to tuberculosis and geography, computer science, or modern digital technologies; 3. To conduct non-degree training to build and strengthen research capacity in digital mobile technologies and tuberculosis through annual recess-term short courses on relevant topics, monthly research seminars, and modern digital health technologies symposia at the Ugandan Society of Health Scientists’ annual conference.

项目摘要 根据世界卫生组织（WHO）的说法，结核病的全球烧伤在2000年达到顶峰，已有 由于每年下降2.0％。尽管这种进展令人鼓舞，但结核病仍然是主要原因 死亡，因为每年有140万人死亡。而且，低收入和中等收入国家 特别是在撒哈拉以南非洲和东南亚，结核病的燃烧量不高。 与世界其他地区相比。该提案的总体目标很简单：减少燃烧 撒哈拉以南非洲的结核病，特别是乌干达。为了实现这一目标，我们相信我们需要新的指标 对于结核病伯恩，导致可行的步骤减少传播或预防感染的发展 疾病。我们还需要更好的方法来通过确保适当遵守有效治疗来管理疾病 实现所需临床结果的方案。当前的提案是基于数字移动的前提 没有考虑到健康目的而开发的技术可能是在富有想象力和新颖的技术中利用的 提供有关结核病传播，感染和疾病的有用信息的方法。确实，过去 十年，我们使用蜂窝电话元数据，启用GPS 手表和智能手机视频应用程序，以研究有关坎帕拉和 乌干达更广泛。这些项目产生了大型，复杂且相互联系的数据库，需要 高水平的定量技能和精致的技能来管理和分析。但是，设计研究的专业知识 并分析目前的这些类型的数据在于来自潜水员学科的一小群研究人员，例如 流行病学，地理学，网络科学，计算，机器学习和人工智能， 其他的。为了实现数字移动技术在衡量有用的健康信息中的全部潜力，我们 提议在两个或多个学科中建立具有专业知识的批判性研究人员 应用新方法来研究有关结核持续性的长期和顽固的问题 在非洲。 为了在乌干达创建大量的研究人员，我们提出以下具体目标：1。培训两个 佐治亚大学（UGA）流行病学的乌干达博士前学员，特别关注 结核病的地理位置，另一个侧重于机器学习和人工智能，以增强 数字依从技术； 2。每年培训两到三个硕士学生 通过支持其硕士论文研究与结核病和地理有关的主题，计算机科学， 或现代数字技术； 3。进行非学位培训以建立和增强研究能力 数字移动技术和结核病通过有关相关主题的年度休息期短期课程， 乌干达卫生学会的每月研究中心和现代数字健康技术研讨会 科学家年度会议。